CPD


Managing behaviour


In an extract from his popular blog, Birmingham teacher John


Wootton considers behaviour management philosophy and principles


Period 5 – Monday, February 6


Do you know how many Hula Hoop savoury snacks you have to stack on top of one another for them to be as tall as Big Ben? No? Well, it’s 7,408. I think the only way you are going to know this is


if you eat Hula Hoops, because on the back of every pack they have an interesting fact about them. A good marketing ploy, that also serves as a useful reminder about teaching. Part of my philosophy is about building a framework


for students to work within. Now Rome wasn’t built in a day and any builder will tell you that “quality materials + quality builder = quality job”. Quality, day-by-day, week-by-week, month-by-month, year-by- year. Simple, but not easy. One Hula Hoop at a time, perfectly balanced on top of the last one until there you have them all standing proudly next to Big Ben. Now, substitute Hula Hoops for “minutes spent”


with a class of students – 7,408 minutes – or 3.16 hours per week – of class time you spend with your group each year, educating someone else’s children. Every minute is another chance to build relationships. Every minute spent is another chance to build the framework for them to work within. Every minute is another chance to teach them how to treat you. A reminder of the philosophy: “Attend to my


own skills, knowledge and understanding. Get into the students’ world. Build relationships. Construct a framework for them to work within. Concentrate on learning not behaviour. Teach them how to treat me.” Like any human being, sometimes we get it right,


sometimes we get it wrong, but most of the time we do get it right. In today’s year 7 PSHE lesson I hope to get more


right than wrong and as it is the last lesson before half- term, I want to leave them with a happy reminder of me as the person they can enjoy lessons with, but the person they do not mess with. It is assessment time, so part of the lesson will be mopping up work not finished from last week and part of it allowing the students to assess themselves. I wish Ofsted was in because it is a perfect opportunity to show them that progress is being made. It is freezing outside, it is a hot room and the new


boilers are working too well. I am sweltering and the heat is irritating the students. They enter looking flushed and tired. I have work to do. “Come in and sit down quietly please.” I beckon


them in with an open palm and a cheery smile as I sit opening up the electronic register and the necessary PowerPoint. I do it quickly as I want to give out their assessment sheets which they began the first week in January. I say their name as I give them their sheet; I want them to remember that I know all of their names and have done since that first day back in September. I


SecEd • March 15 2012


sense that they like that. Just a hunch I have from their demeanour. A Hula Hoop. As I finish my sheet-giving tour, I don’t mind the


low-level chatter, but as I reach my teaching spot up front, I straighten up and begin scanning the room. Pavlov and Skinner would be proud of me as the chatter quickly dissipates. I explain the assessment process again. “Have I made that clear?” Silent nods and staring


eyes look back at me as I exaggerate listening by turning my right ear towards them all. “Okay – away you go.” I stand still using that wonderful point of control,


transition time. Boy X decides not to start his assessment but continues to talk even though I am looking at him intermittently as the 30 seconds pass. He engages two other boys in his conversation who are also now off-task. Transition time over, he’s first on my list. “X, have you finished?” I start with a reference


to the learning not the behaviour. “No sir,” he replies and finishes his little chat as though I shouldn’t be interrupting him. I think he might start now, but no. He is either taking my question psychologically literally or he understands the inference and chooses to ignore it. Time to turn the heat above simmer. “X, I asked you if you had finished.” “No sir.”


Again he turns to finish his chat. I choose to think he has gone down the literal route and blame myself, but I now choose to remove him from the room and make a slight interruption to others. Others have seen his actions and maybe think he is being deliberately defiant. Don’t want that do I? Another Hula Hoop. “Go and stand outside for me please.” I am not


smiling. I motion my head to the door. He walks in an exaggerated fashion, but I am not responding to that or getting into an extended disagreement. I am senior vice-principal, but my experience tells me to use the school systems and not go it alone; it will be reported electronically. The room goes silent. “Okay we have 12 minutes to finish our assessments.


I deliberately use the word ‘our’. Five minutes later, I walk to Boy X, who is now standing by the door entrance and I have already decided to not use the normal “language frame”. He needs to know how unhappy I feel now and that he’s overstepped the mark. As he looks to the floor, I stand by his side so


my words don’t hit him full in the face. “Don’t ever, ever, ignore me again X. When I ask you if you have finished when you clearly haven’t I expect you to take my polite hint and get back to your assessment. Is that fair enough?” I fly by the seat of my experienced pants this time, as I lower my voice and slow the tempo. “Yes sir.” A very significant Hula Hoop. As he


walks inside, eyes gaze at him and I can see him smiling even though I’m behind him. It’s only youthful posturing and a “secondary” behaviour as Bill Rogers puts it; I don’t respond. Back to learning. The rest of the students are beavering away at the


tasks and I am providing countdowns to increase the urgency.Only M is continuing to display inappropriate behaviours. He knows the incessant pen tapping is irritating to others and he knows I know he’s doing it. I let him do it three times and then say: “M...” I look at him, screw up my face in mock pain,


showing my considerable wrinkles and show him my left palm, which I slowly move up and down. He looks at me and stops. Another lovely Hula Hoop. Today’s lesson is a reminder to me. I am sitting


here “facilitating”. I have prepared well, managed the students well and I feel good. I like the way I always try to stay within the boundaries of the philosophy, which ultimately drives my behaviours.


In a few more weeks we will be in the “performing”


stage of group development. That will be around 20 hours of contact and consistent application of a teacher’s knowledge, skills and understanding. I have entered into their youthful world and built


relationships. Most know how to treat me, and me them. The framework I have been building since September is nearly finished. I have concentrated on learning and not behaviours. This school isn’t a behavioural correction facility, it’s a learning institution.


Talking CPD Learning from Sir Clive


School improvement via quality of teaching


is more sustainable when there is a shared ‘language of learning’. Phil Parker explains


ARGUABLY ONE of our greatest coaches of recent years is Sir Clive Woodward, who masterminded the England rugby team’s World Cup and Six Nations successes in 2003. Sir Clive’s radical methods derive from his mantra: “Get everyone within the organisation in the same thought process.” It’s a philosophy gathering momentum in our schools. According to research (NFER and TDA, 2008),


coaching is “an enabling process aimed at improving performance in specific aspects of practice, notably relating to an individual’s skill development”. The research found a three-fold benefit in


this – increased reflection by teachers, a culture which researched learning, and a greater degree of collaboration within the organisation. The need to improve performance is vital under the new Ofsted framework in which teaching is reviewed against criteria such as the extent to which teachers enable pupils to develop the skills to learn for themselves and also enthuse, engage and motivate pupils to learn. This is crucial now that “outstanding” will only


be awarded when the quality of teaching reaches that level – data may be solid and standards make three levels of progress, but it is going to be “good” rather than “outstanding” if those standards are achieved by a diet dependent on spoon-feeding. The need for expert coaching has never been


more important. School leaders will need to become their own Sir Clive Woodward. How? To achieve Sir Clive’s mantra, you first need to share the same language – what I call the “language of learning”. Every teacher needs to focus on the competences they expect from their learners, and ensure they enable pupils to learn using them. Coaching needs objectivity, it needs highly specific elements on which to focus improvement


in performance. What can get overlooked is that the performance doesn’t just come from the teacher, it is a partnership. The head of my school used to say that an


outstanding lesson should not be where “young people watch adults working like crazy”. Student progress is only sustainable when learners are performing at (and ideally beyond) the same level as the teacher. Pupils need consistency for this to happen,


derived from the shared language of learning. But teachers need it too. Some schools use camera technology and web-


based software which records lessons and enables teachers to reflect on, analyse and share their lessons securely. Imagine how powerful it could be if this kind of technology could be linked to a focus on the competences within the language of learning. Just think about how reviews of a lesson could: • Examine how activities, planning and classroom management might be coached when it focused on elements such as leadership and communication in a lesson addressing team learning.


• Analyse the ways learners expressed their individuality in a question and answer session as part of developing independent learning.


• Develop greater creative learning in starters and plenaries using curiosity and problem-solving, so the teacher became more of a facilitator.


Lessons could be reviewed with far greater precision. Learners would understand which competences they were expected to use and observers would be able to look for examples of learners being enabled in this way. This degree of empowered learning leads to greater motivation and enthusiasm from the learner, making progress more likely. School improvement, via quality of teaching,


becomes more sustainable as teachers are coached in those competences where their learners need to develop. It might mean the whole school collaborates to address innovative ways to develop creative learning across the whole organisation. It is a route to “get everyone within the


organisation in the same thought process” and reviewing the quality of their work within that thought process. With a shared language for learning students are empowered to become independent, motivated and enthused.


•Phil Parker is an ex-senior leader of an outstanding school and now a director of Student Coaching Ltd. Visit www.studentcoaching.co.uk


building-state-changers and it always helps if they like Hula Hoops.


As I’ve said before, teachers are relationship- SecEd


• John Wootton is senior vice-principal at a school in Birmingham. This extract is from his weekly blog in which he considers behaviour management philosophy and principles when teaching his year 7 PSHE group during period 5 on Monday afternoon. Follow John’s blog at http://classroombehaviours.blogspot.com


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